So I accidentally ran a little experiment this weekend when my wife was dancing along while I was drumming. I was using a haptic metronome (because if I use an actual clicking one, she’ll tell me to go woodshed somewhere else).
Anyway, I was playing one of the funky MIDIpak beats in AD2 — the same groove throughout, but sometimes I’d mute the metronome for a few bars and then bring it back. What I noticed was wild: every time the haptic metronome was on, my wife started dancing. As in, my playing got tight enough that it felt rhythmic enough for her to move to. But whenever the metronome went into a gap period, I’d drift just enough that she’d stop dancing. For my part, I could hear a small difference in my playing without the metronome, but nothing that would preclude someone from dancing.
Crazy, right? I’ve always thought of metronomes as a one-way ticket to Snoozeville (though necessary). Turns out they don’t just make me better — they make the music better for everyone else too.
